mike ledoux wrote:
> My point exactly. If the community starts to expect support from
> these corporate entities, it will suffer when they inevitably withdraw
> that support. My point was that no matter how much they talk the
> talk, these corporate entities are not part of the Linux community in
> the same sense that any given individual could be, and that the
> community should keep that in mind. By all means, we should take
> advantage of any support these corporations might provide, but we
> should be careful not to compromise 'the cause' to fulfill some
> corporate agenda.
Mike's point is well hightlighted in the most recent in a string of
articles about how Linux needs "Corporate Guidence". This one is titled
"Is Linus Killing Linux"
(http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20010126S0013). People like IBM,
Compaq, et al. seem to think that one person controlling the kernel is
bad (which shows that they just don't get it). They think that the
kernel design should be controlled by a non-profit "Industry-funded"
entity. That way, the kerel design can follow "customer demand". Plain
and simple, the companies that claim to support Linux do *NOT* support
Linux, they support something that can make them money. That's what
companies are for. However, more and more large companies are jumping on
the band-wagon, and once they are on, they realize that none of the
rules that they used to dictate apply. So they do one of two things: 1)
They publicly anounce what Linux "needs to become to be competitive" or
2) They publicly announce that they no longer support Linux. #1 is a
poor attempt to force the community's hand into doing what they want.
But again, the old rules don't apply. The Linux comunitee can not be
threatened, blackmailed, or extorted into following suit(s) by virtue of
the simple fact that we have absolutly nothing to lose. If every major
company that claims to support Linux withdrew their support, and if
every distro company filed for bankruptcy (like Stormix just did), what
would we lose? Some pretty shrink-wraped boxes? Oh well. I for one would
still be using it. And I am willing to bet that OSS would continue to be
developed. Just Because (TM).
Kenny
PS This is the first e-mail in the thread that I have read, so excuse me
if everything that I just said is completely off base ;-)
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